Where are we with ethical fashion?

I don't know if it's the right time to talk about ethical fashion again. I'm warning you right away, I don't know how this post will turn out.

Yesterday, I sorted through my favorites to do a small market watch for new product launches. I wanted to see what other brands were doing in ethical fashion. And what surprised me was that half of the sites I looked at had closed down. BANKRUPTCY. CESSATION OF ACTIVITY.

I still don't understand why ethical fashion exploded, and today it's just a tiny branch.

Everyone eats organic at least once in their life (I think the exact statistic is over 90% of the population). That's normal, it's become part of our customs. But why do we eat organic? A real question. Some say for our health, others for the planet. But just because we eat organic, will we go so far as to wear organic clothes?

Unfortunately not, even though buying organic cosmetics is becoming more and more normal (I was going to say accepted by society).

I try not to be moralistic because deep down everyone does as they want/can, but I admit I'm sad to see all these brands that have closed or are struggling, thinking it will be better next year, and then close down.

Peau-Ethique is 12 years old, and yet every day I explain to customers what organic cotton is, when normally it should be part of purchasing habits.

So I had read an article that said if ethical fashion doesn't work (in France), it's because it's too much for environmentalists. OK LOL. Initially, if you don't target environmentalists, who do you target? I don't know if someone who isn't interested in organic will type "organic lingerie" into a search engine. On the contrary, I find that ethical fashion has become much more democratic. You can find organic cotton everywhere (I really want to talk about Carrefour's organic range), but despite everything, some brands are still closing.

Is it also a question of price? I see organic brands that really overcharge because they are organic. For us, on the contrary, the initial idea is to democratize purchasing by offering an organic product (thus with added value) at what I would call a rather normal price, but then we don't all have the same notion of a fair price :)

Why doesn't it work?

Perhaps the style, and also the target. Yet this year we've talked so much about ecology with COP21... but it seems that's not enough.

So I still have my Idéo tops, Kamakala, a Tudo Bom jacket, Les Fées de Bengale sweaters, a Seyes scarf, and even Machja jeans...

So yes, what is the future of ethical fashion?

The thought I have more and more often is that "ethical" buying is over, we don't necessarily buy out of conviction, we buy a product, and perhaps that's why some brands have closed...

(Haha, I wrote this article in January 2016, a year has passed, what can I say? Unfortunately, brands are closing, that's a real fact, others are also being created, there's a real trend in crowdfunding to involve consumers more from the start of the project. As for us, it's going well, we're still here, and I think we'll finish the year! But it's true that I ask myself this question about the future of ethical fashion; ultimately, is organic a trend? Perhaps no longer, perhaps on the contrary it's now a common thing and buying organic cotton socks is not a militant act!)